Press Conference Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Kota Melaka, Lim Kit Siang, in Malacca on Wednesday, 25.7.1984 at 11a.m.:
Call on Tan Koon Swan and Lee Kim Sai to order their MCA faction, and in particular Chan Teck Chan and Ng Peng Huay, to stop their plot to destroy and discredit Cheng Hoon Teng and to apologise for branding the Cheng Hoon Teng trustees as ‘Chinese traitors’
Yesterday, following on the Chief Minister’s announcement of the State Government’s intention to proceed with the decision to level and develop Bukit China as originally planned, the ‘Level and Develop Bukit China faction’ had launched immediately into supporting action with a three-prong attack, aimed primarily at discrediting Cheng Hoon Teng and destroying both its legal and moral authority as the trustees of Bukit China.
Ng Peng Huay in the Malacca State Assembly branded the Cheng Hoon Teng Trustees as ‘traitors to the Chinese race’ while Chan Teck Chan in a separate statement and the 52 Malacca MCA rebel branches in an all-point resolution, repeated the same charges as Ng Peng Huay against Cheng Hoon Teng trustees, which is chaired by Ee Yew Lin, and comprises Yong Hung Pow, Tan Lian Teck, and others; and whose Bukit China working committee comprises Ee Tiang Heng, Datuk Lim Kim Soo, Goh Tiong Sin, and whose Advisory Committee includes Tun Tan Siew Sin, Datuk Chan Wu Yik, and others.
Ng Peng Huay announced in the Malacca State Assembly that their campaign to support the State Chief Minister’s plan on Bukit China, which including destroying and discrediting Cheng Hoon Teng Trustees and branding them as ‘traitors of the Chinese race’, would be a nation-wide one and would be led by Tan Koon Swan and Lee Kim Sai.
All Malaysian Chinese must be most shocked by this violent attack on the authority of Cheng Hoon Teng, aimed at destroying it altogether.
I call on Tan Koon Swan and Lee Kim Sai to order their MCA faction in Malacca, in particular Chan Teck Chan and Ng Peng Huay, to stop their plot to destroy and discredit Cheng Hoon Teng committee and to apologise for branding the Cheng Hoon Teng trustees for being ‘traitors of the Chinese race.’
The Malacca Chief Minister, Abdul Rahim Thamby Cik, had said at the Malacca State Assembly on Monday that Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and the Malacca State Government had set up a joint committee for the development of Bukit China, and that Cheng Hoon Teng had initially agreed to the government’s development plan.
Cheng Hoon Teng Temple committee has come out with an open denial, not only refuting that a join committee to develop Bukit China had been established, but also refuting that Cheng Hoon Teng Temple trustees had initially agreed to the government’s development plan for Bukit China.
Why should Chan Teck Chan, Ng Peng Huay and Tan Koon Swan’s MCA fiction choose to believe the Chief Minister more than the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple committee, unless the purpose is to give this ‘Level and Develop Bukit China faction’ the ammunition to try to destroy and discredit Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, as reflected by the fury and immediate onslaught to the ^ extent of branding the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple trustees with the ultimate condemnations as ‘traitors of Chinese race’!
If by their logic, those who support the State Government’s plan are traitors of the Chinese race, then Ng Peng Huay and Chan Teck Chan in being the first announce acceptable and support for the three-point development option of the Chief Minister are self-confessed ‘traitors of our race’!
Chan Teck Chan and Ng Peng Huay’s action yesterday confirm their attempt at the Malacca Chinese Chamber of Commerce Management Board meeting last week on 17th July 1984, when they tried to pressurise the Malacca Chinese Chamber of Commerce to declare public dissociation from the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple on the Bukit China issue, wanting the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to support the Malacca State Government’s development plan for Bukit China.
Although Chan Teck Chan had subsequently accused me of distorting what he said at the Malacca Chinese Chamber of Commerce, he dared not deny that when his strong-armed tactics failed to convince the Malacca CCC to abandon its stand with Cheng Hoon Teng, he, Ng Peng Huay and Datuk Tan Cheng Swee demanded that their objection to the Malacca CCC’s taking a common stand with Cheng Hoon Teng Temple on Bukit China be recorded in the minutes!
DAP to organise a ‘Save Bukit China’ Public Ceramah at Pay Fong Chinese Secondary School Hall on Saturday night
With the latest development in the stubborn attempt of the Malacca State Government to procees with its original plan to level and develop Bukit China, the DAP will organise a ‘Save Bukit China’ Public Ceramah at Pay Fong Chinese Secondary School Hall on Saturday, July 28, starting at 7.30p.m. where DAP leaders would discuss the latest situation with regard to the campaign to save Bukit China.
The topic of my speech at the Sunday’s ‘Save Bukit China’ ceramah will be: “Should the Chinese community accept the three options for the development of Bukit China as outlined by Malacca Chief Minister in the Malacca State Assembly on July 23?”
An important announcement would also be made at the Saturday ‘Save Bukit China’ ceramah.
3.DAP National Save Bukit China Committee to hold its third meeting in Petaling Jaya on Thursday night
The DAP National Save Bukit China Committee, which was formed and held its inaugural meeting in Malacca on July 8, to mobilise and rally national support for the campaign to save the 500-year-old historic, religious and cultural monument from destruction, would holds its third meeting in Petaling Jaya on Thursday night, to discuss the latest Bukit China developments and plan new moves.
In the campaign to mobilise public opinion to save Bukit China, the Committee would need more people to participate in the various activities aimed at persuading the State Government to abandon its plan to level and develop Bukit China. I therefore call on members of the public who share the same concern and objectives as the Save Bukit China Committee to come forward to join our movement. They need not be DAP members, for in this cause, we welcome all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or even political affiliation, to help preserve a national monument which affects not only our cultural roots but our future position in the country. We will open a register for volunteers who wish to help in Save Bukit China campaign, and all those who wish to contribute can contact any DAP leader or come to the DAP office to register as a volunteer in the battle to save Bukit China.